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Foss' Notes
| |- | | |} There are many forms of democracy, however, democracy, in its purest or most ideal form would be a society in which all adult citizens have an equal say in decisions that affect their lives. A democracy, as Dewey explains in The Public and its Problems (1927), is a public that can recognize and govern itself. Abraham Lincoln said that a democracy is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Dewey states, “the prime difficulty” is “discovering the means by which a scattered, mobile, and manifold public may so recognize itself as to define and express its interests. There remains a schism between the reality of cyberspace and its fictional utopian representation. The Internet certainly has potential to improve democracy with active civil participation; however the Internet has limitations to fostering democracy. I do not think that the internet is a democracy nor do I think it ever will be. The Internet is anarchic and interactive. Because the Internet is anarchic, there is little or no control, meaning the power is in the hands of the people. The Internet is this collective space, because as a medium, the Internet is a great communication tool which is interactive. In this way, the Internet expands the role of people from passive message consumers to active message creators. As such people can perform their civic responsibility to participate. The internet improves democracy by offering both internal and external ways for citizens to participate in political decision making process. Internally, the Internet provides resources, raising civil awareness of political decision making and critical issues. Externally, the Internet provides a channel for citizens to make their voices heard. The Internet improves civil participation by prompting active dissemination of information and is also a communication tool which fosters informed citizens and erodes monopolies of knowledge, ending civil ignorance of moral, political, and economic issues. On the Internet, people can act as gatekeepers taking the time to negotiate consensus and act as checks and balances so that the maintenance of a community does not fall on the same group of people’s backs and shoulders, thus stifling monopolization of power. However, the Internet is a Distopia. Utopian visions are too idealistic about the Internet’s potential to improve democracy. On the Internet there are many limitations to fostering democracy. There I a digital divide. The digital divide is a major unequalizing force in the world economy today as many people do not have Internet access. There is a civil indifference and reluctance to participate in the decision making process Nannerl O. Keohane, in her book Thinking about Leadership says, "even the simplest, most robust participatory democracies must come to terms with the fact that, in Semour Martin Lipset's words, 'democracy in the sense of a system of decision-making in which all members or citizens play an active role in the continuous process is inherenly impossible'" (Keohane 164). Sure billions of people spread out over the globe, simultaneously plugged into the Internet could vote on a proposition, but in no practical way could they simultaneously deliberate or suggest alternatives to whatever is before them (Keohane 164). On our online class I could not even keep up with twenty some odd inputs simultaneously. "With ingenious deployment of technology there will no doubt be refinements that will allow large-scale participation to be more effectively accomplished. However the continuous participation of all citizens is 'inherently impossible' for reasons that have nothing to do with the scale or technology. Instead these reasons involve the division of labor and the demands of political activity" (Keohane 164-165).' ' In a democracy, each person’s vote should count the same in determining the final outcome.